We’d been in the line up for a number of blocks by the time we saw this sign, and received our ticket forms…I wonder what letters the first people got.

A collection of folkies waiting for the lottery results.

The calling of the letters.

The letters and order they were called for the 2014 ticket lottery.

Only posted after ticket sales were in full swing, could be read as a sign of success or necessary future directions.

Edmonton is pretty hard-core about being ‘Festival City’ and once we can pretend that summer is in fact here, its time to break out the sandals, lawn chairs and get into the swing of things. For some this means making a yearly pilgrimage to Rossdale bright and early to stand in line for the opportunity to purchase Folk Fest tickets in person. Last year the EFMF piloted a new system, akin to the ‘colours’ that they’ve used for the tarp (run) placement system for a few years now, in order to keep eager folkies from camping out in the queue.

The ticket lottery system is quite straightforward, arrive around 7 am, and stand in line to get into TELUS field, get a ticket order form that also has a letter printed on it. Once everyone is in the stadium, draw some letters, prop them up on chairs, organise the crowd into a line by those letters, everyone who has one of those letters is guaranteed to be able to purchase up to the limits on the ticket form –if you aren’t one of those lucky folkies, then you head home and get ready to purchase your tickets online or by phone at the designated time.

This year we had five different letters, and managed to get called in group six, and I must say that the process was less time consuming and generally less stressful (once the letters were called) than two years ago. When we spent 5+ hours winding our way through picturesque Rossdale consuming our entire store of snacks and playing more than a few games of Crib.